Inflation is at a four-decade high, and a recession could be near. Credit-card issuers aren’t worried: They are aggressively courting new customers and trying to increase credit-card balances, the Wall Street Journal reported. Marketing expenses are up at big issuers, including American Express Co., Capital One Financial Corp. and Discover Financial Services. New credit-card account openings are surging. Solicitations promoting zero-percent interest rates on purchases and balance transfers, which fell after the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in March, are rising again. Big card issuers reported record levels of credit-card spending for the second quarter. At JPMorgan Chase & Co., credit-card purchases totaled $271.2 billion, the highest amount dating back to at least 2004 and 33% above the fourth quarter of 2019, before the pandemic caused spending to plunge. Bank executives say low unemployment and credit-card delinquencies that remain below prepandemic levels give them confidence in consumers’ ability to keep up with their debts. And inflation isn’t such a bad thing for card companies, some executives say, since it can result in higher spending that translates into more fee revenue.
